Wednesday, May 29, 2013

You see, I was gearing up for a trip to Disney World with my nieces! I've been aching to share photos with you.

But right as we were returning to central Oklahoma, the terrible tornado struck just north of us. I decided the photos could wait.

Maybe we could all use a little magic now? (Especially because it's my birthday!)

Several months ago, when Steve and I decided to take my 6 and 9-year-old nieces to Disney World, we were met with enthusiasm, but also a little skepticism. More than a few "you don't know what you're getting into" looks and comments came our way. We were both nervous, but we really wanted to spend time with the girls, give them a fun vacation, and help them see a little more of the world.

And you know what? It was better than we ever could have dreamed! It truly was magical.

We saw castles!

We met beautiful princesses.

We consumed excessive amounts of sugar.

And boy did we EVER ride roller coasters! My little niece Samantha, barely 6-years-old, started small with Dumbo, worked her way up through coasters like the Barnstormer and Big Thunder Mountain, and finally topped it all off with Space Mountain. (I didn't have the nerve to ride that thing until I was a teenager!)

Friday, May 10, 2013

On to the story . . . last week I had to get a crown repaired. They told me in advance that it would take TWO AND A HALF HOURS. Thus, when the dental assistant offered "the gas" I said yes, because how else would I get through the boredom and discomfort?** I knew from experience that nitrous oxide would make the whole dreary business of crown repair much more . . . interesting.

And it did. For some reason (and maybe it's this way for everyone), nitrous makes me very thinky. I have great epiphanies that inspire me to compose mental essays as my dentist drills away. Mental essays WITH FOOTNOTES (I kid you not). When Dr. W came in and asked how I was feeling, I enthusiastically shared my tendency to think "great thoughts" while on nitrous. She responded with the following anecdote (which really must be a standard dentist joke):

"One time a patient on nitrous said that I'd 'touched her soul' -- I told her I didn't think I'd drilled that far."

Hee!

**We all know nitrous oxide is more for anxiety than boredom. I was anxious, too!

I blogged the following nearly five years ago after first reading Blum's book, and with the release of The Dark Between only three months away, it seemed fitting to share it again:

October 14, 2008This weekend I read Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death, an excellent book about 19th century scientists who pioneered investigations into paranormal phenomena. The author, Deborah Blum, is a Pulitzer Prize winning science journalist who teaches at University of Wisconsin. Her writing is vivid and entertaining. I laughed aloud at the opening of chapter 5 and just had to share it with you: [A little background: one of William James' esteemed colleagues was Edmund Gurney, first secretary of the Society for Psychical Research and top-billed author of Phantasms of the Living, which attempted to systematically collect and categorize data on telepathy and crisis apparitions.]Suddenly, in a shock of glorious insight, Edmund Gurney realized the truth about immortality. The moment was breathtaking, luminous. He alone had solved the infinite puzzle, seen the path to eternal life.

Edmund Gurney

Unfortunately, as he complained to William James, that gleaming certainty melted like ice in a thaw -- about the time the nitrous oxide he'd received at the dentist's office wore off. "I was only waiting for breath & energy to inform the lucky dentist, when it somehow lapsed." Still, even leaving the office, Gurney had felt sure that he could write a brilliant journal article. By the time he got home, the brilliance had worn off, but Gurney still thought he might write James a letter filled with useful insights. "Then the evening came & somehow the letter did not seem as if it would have much in it and didn't get written."Oh, those transient moments of narcotic genius. (105)Okay, that's just funny in itself. But it particularly resonated with me because I had a very similar experience. I'd taken a half day off from teaching to go to the dentist for a crown. [Note: the very same crown being repaired above in 2013.] I was assured that I'd be fine to teach in the afternoon. Well! That hygienist must have turned up the gas a little too high because I wasn't just happy -- I was flying. Soaring to a higher plane of existence! I specifically remember thinking "Now I understand everything." And I had all sorts of amazing insights to share with my students -- I just couldn't WAIT to tell them. But as I was leaving the dentist all those brilliant thoughts began to fade. It suddenly seemed inappropriate to tell a group of teens that I'd had a drug-induced epiphany Samuel Coleridge would have envied, especially since I couldn't remember the exact details of the epiphany. By the time I got back in the classroom I felt deflated and a little sick. And I had no wisdom to offer the kids except a warning not to provoke me because the entire left side of my face hurt and I was on a very short fuse. And that, folks, was my very own experience with transient narcotic genius. To this day when reading that passage about Edmund Gurney, I feel so connected to his euphoria and sympathetic to his subsequent confusion and sense of loss.

I guess that's why I was inspired to create my own versions of these people--versions of Edmund Gurney and his circle, but more specifically, their children--because I think we can all relate to this urgent desire for clarity and transcendence. The desire not only to lift the veil and see beyond, but to put that experience into words that change others. This definitely is a recurring theme in The Dark Between.

But Gurney's story also just makes me laugh, and that's why I had to share it again today.

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Hey guys, the paperback for THE REVENANT releases next Tuesday. This edition includes the first chapter of THE DARK BETWEEN. Yay!

Here's the official jacket blurb for the book:

When Willie arrives in Indian Territory, she knows only one thing: no one can find out who she really is. To escape a home she doesn't belong in anymore, she assumes the name of a former classmate and accepts a teaching job at the Cherokee Female Seminary.

Nothing prepares her for what she finds there. Her pupils are the daughters of the Cherokee elite—educated and more wealthy than she, and the school is cloaked in mystery. A student drowned in the river last year, and the girls whisper that she was killed by a jealous lover. Willie's room is the very room the dead girl slept in. The students say her spirit haunts it.

Willie doesn't believe in ghosts, but when strange things start happening at the school, she isn't sure anymore. She's also not sure what to make of a boy from the nearby boys' school who has taken an interest in her—his past is cloaked in secrets. Soon, even she has to admit that the revenant may be trying to tell her something. . . .

I'm giving away a few copies, along with swag for THE REVENANT and THE DARK BETWEEN.

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About Me

Hi there! I'm the author of THE REVENANT (2011), THE DARK BETWEEN (2013), and GHOSTLIGHT (2015), all from Alfred A. Knopf. I blog a little about writing, but more often about reading, travel, TV and movies. Nothing too serious. Check the links below for more places to find me on the web, or click the banner to return to my website.